HC dismisses Delhi government’s contempt plea against ACB chief

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed an AAP government plea for contempt of court proceedings against the city’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) chief Mukesh Kumar Meena for not acting as per the law, as ordered by court.

“… it is not necessary for this court to go into the correctness of the allegations in the contempt case and to return a finding as to whether the conduct of the respondents (ACB chief Meena and an SHO) would amount to willful disobedience of the order of this court. Accordingly, the contempt case is dismissed,” a division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said.

The government plea had accused Meena of hindering ACB functioning and violating the High Court’s June 29, 2015, order that asked the ACB chief, a Lt. Governor’s appointee, to act in “accordance with the law”.

The contempt plea also alleged that Meena arbitrarily replaced the then Station House Officer of the ACB by another person and did not lodge an FIR against two Delhi Development Authority officials allegedly caught accepting bribe.

The Centre told the court that Meena acted in accordance with the law by not lodging an FIR as the DDA officials were central government employees and the ACB did not have powers to take action against them. Hence, Meena had not disobeyed any law, the Centre submitted.

Dismissing the plea for initiating contempt of court proceedings, the bench referred to its judgment of August 4, 2016, holding the Lt. Governor as the administrative head of Delhi and upholding the Centre’s notification stopping the Delhi ACB from acting against central government employees.

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Presidency varsity plaque with Jan Sangh founder’s name vandalised

The vandalism happened after a statue of Dravidian icon and social reformer E.V.R. Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, was razed in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore, while two statues of Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin were pulled down in Tripura allegedly by the BJP-RSS activists.

Kolkata, March 20 : Unknown miscreants vandalised a plaque with Jansangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee’s name engraved on it in the Presidency University on Monday, officials said.

Mookerjee’s name, along with those of other icons, was engraved on the university’s bi-centennianl commemorative plaque. The educationist-politician was an illustriuous alumni of the Presidency College, the earlier avatar of the university.

On Monday morning, it was found that his name has been inked out.

The university has formed a five-member probe committee.

“Whoever has done it, will not be spared,” said Vice Chancellor Anuradha Lohia.

West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee condemned the act.

The state BJP has demanded stringent punishment for the perpetrators.

This is the second attack on Mookerjee’s memorabilia in the state t his month.

Seven members of an extremist left-wing student organisation were arrested for allegedly vandalising and blackening his marble bust in Kolkata’s Keoratola crematorium ground on March 7.

The vandalism happened after a statue of Dravidian icon and social reformer E.V.R. Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, was razed in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore, while two statues of Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin were pulled down in Tripura allegedly by the BJP-RSS activists.

SC stays trial in Junaid lynching case in Harayana

New Delhi, March 19: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the trial in Junaid Khan lynching case as it sought response from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Haryana government on a plea seeking the transfer of investigation from the state police to the CBI.

Junaid Khan, 16, was lynched by a mob on board a Mathura-bound train in Haryana on June 22, 2017, following a row over seats which allegedly led to snowballed into religious slurs being hurled. The murder triggered nationwide outrage.

The bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar stayed the trial before the court in Haryana’s Faridabad and sought response on transfer of investigation to CBI on a plea by Junaid Khan’s father Jalaluddin.

Jalaluddin has moved the top court challenging November 27, 2017 Punjab and Haryana High Court order rejecting his plea for handing over the investigation to CBI.

Holding that there was no substance in the plea to indicate that the investigation by the state police was tainted or shoddy, the High Court had said that there appeared no deliberate attempt to derail the investigation.

It had declined to exercise its extraordinary powers, saying that the case did not have any national or international ramifications.

Junaid and his cousins Hasim Moin and Shakir Moin were on the EMU train going from Ghaziabad to Mathura after Eid shopping on June 22.

The accused, along with around a dozen others, boarded at Okhla and ordered Junaid and his brothers to give them their seats.

When they refused, the three were brutally beaten up, stabbed and dumped at Asaoti railway station in Palwal district.

The incident occurred near the Sahibabad railway station when Rohit Jain, owner of Union Jewellers & Gems Pvt Ltd, was returning from Meerut after showing samples of the merchandise to Meerut-based jewellers.

He left Meerut at 8 p.m. on Sunday. As he, along with his friends Deepak and Krishna, reached Sahibabad area, they stopped their car at an eatery near the railway station.

As they left the place, the criminals who were wearing police uniform asked the driver to stop the car for checking.

The moment the car halted, the robbers put a pistol on their heads and robbed the entire stock of gold and escaped. A police officer had earlier described the haul as gold biscuits.

“We hope to work out the case soon,” Superintendent of Police Akash Tomar said.